Theory of Divination

by Tim Maroney (1990)

"Divination" is the production of information by magical, occult,
or supernatural means. Tarot cards, I Ching, astrology, and the other
well-known oracles are forms of divination.

Many other forms of divination are known, such as the prophecying
of the Pythoness at the ancient shrine of Apollo at Delphi;
oneiromancy or dream interpretation; geomancy, divination by making
dots in a tray of sand; bibliomancy, flipping randomly to a passage
in a book (usually the Bible); chiromancy or palm-reading;
necromancy, communing with dead souls; pyromancy or divination by
flames; crytallomancy or crystal-gazing; ornithomancy, interpretation
of the flights and cries of birds; and, of course, the Tibetan
milk-bottle method of Special Agent Dale Cooper.

There are numerous theories of how divination works, or does not
work. I will attempt to present a reasonably objective survey of the
theories, not neglecting the most skeptical or farfetched.

The discussion is general and need not be taken as applying
strictly to the Tarot. Some of the theories apply only to methods of
divination which are manually controlled by the diviner, but other
theories apply equally well to all methods.

Unconscious Mind

Where does the information of divination come from? One answer is
that it comes from the unconscious portions of the human mind.

The unconscious mind is composed of all those parts of the mind
which are active but which are not apparent to the conscious,
speaking parts of the mind. The unconscious was a mainstay of the
psychoanalytic theories popular early in the twentieth century, but
it has survived the collapse of those pre-scientific theories. It now
appears in some modern cognitive and neurological theories of the
psyche. After all, it's obvious that there is a great deal of
information processing of which we are unaware.

The theory of divination by the unconscious mind is plainly
applicable to some forms of divination, such as dream interpretation
and the oracle at Delphi, but the theory is not as clear with respect
to manual oracles, such as Tarot cards, the I Ching, and geomancy.
How does the information travel from the unconscious mind to the
hands, or to the interpretation?

One of the common answers bears on the theory of
Order from Chaos. This answer holds
that the patterns generated by a manual oracle are truly random. All
the information is created by the mind struggling to make order out
of the oracular chaos. In this version of "Order from Chaos", the
emerging pattern is assumed to come from the unconscious mind, and so
to provide a "window" into the unconscious. A Tarot spread is a sort
of Rorschach blot.

Another popular answer says that perhaps the unconscious mind
determines the physical result of the oracle. The unconscious is
supposed to be watching the diviner's progress very carefully and
controlling the motions of the diviner's hands so that the oracle
takes a particular shape. Whether this can actually happen has not
been subjected to rigorous experiment.

Finally, the unconscious mind may use psychic powers of some kind
to shape the oracle; for instance, telekinesis, or perhaps the
manipulation of probabilities. No such psychic powers have ever been
shown to exist, but it is an attractive theory to many people, and in
practice it is probably the most popular version of the theory of the
unconscious mind.

In the theories of psychic powers or unconscious determination,
note the effects of practice. The unconscious mind is no more
infallible than the conscious mind, so the more spreads it performs,
the less chance it has of flubbing the shuffle.

The question remains of why we would want to contact the
unconscious mind at all.

The most common view in occult or parapsychological circles is
that the unconscious mind is the repository of immense wisdom,
perhaps through contact with divine beings, the ultimate ground of
being, the higher self, or psychic powers.

A more mundane psychological justification is that the conscious
and unconscious minds can be considered excessively separated, or
even at odds. In some psychological theories of transformation the
goal is to bring the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind
closer to each other, so that the whole mind may function more
harmoniously. An oracular practice might be effective in teaching the
two minds to work together and to respect each others' interests.

The most mundane answer says that two heads are better than one.
The unconsciousness is no better or worse than the consciousness, and
there is no special merit from bringing the two closer as a process
of self-transformation. But just as it is valuable to discuss
problems with someone else (depending, of course, on the other person
-- this principle should not encourage you to pester Manuel Noriega
or Tammy Faye Bakker with your problems), so it is valuable to see
what the unconscious mind thinks about issues. It may be right or
wrong, but a more rounded perspective will likely result from hearing
its side.

In either of the more mundane answers -- perhaps even in the
occult one -- it is important to note that one is not opening a
doorway into Absolute Truth. One is merely learning how the
unconscious mind feels about the issue. So, a reading of success or
failure would not necessarily show that an endeavor really was so
fated. It would show only that the unconscious mind was of an
optimistic or pessimistic opinion.

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a parapsychological concept usually attributed to
the psychotherapist Carl Jung. Jung called it "an acausal connecting
principle"; that is, apparently separate events are meaningfully
connected by synchronicity, outside the normal laws of cause and
effect. In Tarot, the seemingly unconnected events linked by
synchronicity are the shuffling of the deck of cards on one hand, and
the meaning which is incorporated in the fall of those cards on the
other.

However, the root idea is far older than Jung. Synchronicity is
the mystical idea that there are no accidents, or that every event is
an interaction between God and the soul. No matter how arbitrary it
may seem to be, each event actually contains spiritual meaning, and
wisdom largely consists in unwinding this hidden meaning behind the
surface of events.

Synchronicity is a common explanation of random oracles such as
the Tarot, I Ching, tea leaves, and ornithomancy, or reading the
flights of birds. The appearance of randomness is only an illusion
caused by our blindness to ultimate spiritual reality. The "random"
fall of Tarot cards actually contains acausally transmitted
information, which the diviner unwinds and interprets.

Granting this idea, why is the synchronistic information worth
finding? The answer lies in the occult theory of the universe, which
ascribes divinity (personal or impersonal) to the invisible acausal
world. As the Tarot spread and other quasi-random synchronistic
phenomena partake strongly of the nature of this hidden world, they
are imbued with its characteristics of wisdom and illumination. In
this way they become links to higher intelligence.

Synchronicity has been much in vogue in occultism for several
decades. It is easy for anyone to verify that once they accept the
principle of acausal connection, the number of apparent
synchronicities increases to a remarkable degree.

Believers hold that this increase is a result of the soul becoming
more attuned to God, or to its own true nature, or to the ultimate
ground of reality, or to platypus people from Pluto (according to one
UFO cult in New Jersey).

Skeptics hold that the increase in synchronicities is only a
result of the desire to see them, and of practice in ascribing
synchronistic meaning to disconnected events.

Synchronicity is practically impossible to put to any kind of
formal test , so the impasse between believers and skeptics is likely
to persist for quite a while. Neither side can muster a genuinely
compelling argument. The believers' "tests" are far too informal for
skeptics. Skeptics can't prove that the information isn't there,
though -- they can only point out that its presence has not been
proven. Neither side has the tools to convince the other.

Depending on the details of one's interpretation of synchronicity,
it may or may not be appropriate to use automatic random oracles
under a synchronistic interpretation. These are computer programs
which shuffle the computerized cards or roll the digital dice
themselves, with no opportunity for human intervention or for actual
randomness.

Shuffling a physical deck of cards is a good approximation to a
truly random process, because shuffling involves millions of
variables few of whose values are known. Computers don't generate
truly random numbers; they start with a "seed" number and perform
complicated arithmetic transformations which turn it into another
number, which becomes the seed for the next pass. The pseudo-random
numbers generated by deterministic computer programs are not a good
approximation to true randomness.

If your idea of synchronicity implies non-determinism through a
chaotic process like shuffling, then automatic oracles are not for
you. If your idea is a more all-embracing mystical notion, then
complete automation should make no difference.

However, automatic oracles tend to be excessively distancing; the
diviner does not feel involved in the process. For that reason, Tarot
software should require manual influences on the fall of cards, much
like physical shuffling. The user could, for instance, decide where
to cut the deck, and the two stacks can then be riffled together.
This brings the user into the process, and it should be compatible
with any positive theory of divination.

Order From Chaos

The most skeptical assessment of divination holds that there
really is no intrinsic meaning in an oracle. The cards just happen to
fall a certain way, and no spirits, influences of the unconscious
mind, or synchronistic factors put any information into their fall.
The diviner is seeing ducks and horses in the clouds.

The straightforward application of this theory removes all
motivation to perform divinations. Since there is no information in
an oracle, divination is at best a waste of time.

However, skepticism and Tarot reading are not incompatible, though
both skeptics and believers often assume otherwise. Modified
skeptical positions hold that the process of attributing meaning to
chaos can have positive effects, even though the meaning is merely an
illusion in the mind.

Storytelling, for example, involves quasi-random factors in
decisions on variables such as character attributes, settings, and
plot structure. This would only be a problem if we failed to make a
coherent story out of these decisions, or confused the story for
reality.

A fiction writer might use the Tarot or other oracles for story
guidance, while still convinced of the idea that the fall of cards is
truly random. Similarly for other artists, but this approach is not
confined to the arts. One might try to divine problems in one's real
life under this theory, in hopes that adding information to the
spread would lead to insights that would not have arisen through the
unassisted thinking process.

Such a skeptical diviner would have total freedom to reject the
reading, but believers in unconscious,
synchronistic, or
spiritualist theories of divination
would not. If you believe that the spread really is meaningless, you
are not bound to accept what it seems to say.

Another skeptical interpretation is that
unconscious factors steer the process
of interpretation -- not the fall of the cards, but the
interpretation of their fall, a psychological process. Just as we do
not decide consciously what to see in the clouds or in a Rorschach
blot, we do not decide consciously what to see in a Tarot spread, but
the outcome reveals something of our unconscious minds. We see
patterns that we are unconsciously predisposed to see, and we learn
about ourselves by revealing our predispositions.

Spirits of Wisdom

The most occult theory of the workings of divination is that the
oracle is manipulated by spirits. The spirits may work through one's
hands, or influence the oracle through more direct magical means such
as telekinesis.

This leaves many questions open. What is the nature of the
spirits? Are the spirits personal or universal? Why is it valuable to
learn what they think about an issue? How do spirits manipulate the
oracle? Why do they consent to being used in this fashion? Is there
one general spirit per oracle, or a single ruler of all forms of
divination, or do different spirits share responsibility over the
same oracle, or is there one divinatory spirit per person?

All of these questions have any number of answers, so this entry
can only give a shallow survey. Apologies are tendered to any theory
which is underrepresented here.

One may take the approach favored by the more intolerant of the
monotheistic factions. All spirits of magic are demons, that is,
fallen angels. Different demons are delegated to divinations at the
convenience of the infernal hierarchy. The oracle is manipulated
through the powers which all angels, fallen or not, possess by virtue
of their special creation by God. Demons are real spiritual
personages having an objective existence in the spiritual world. They
consent to being used by the diviner because the practice of
divination leads to eternal damnation for the practitioner -- as do
all magical practices not formally approved by the Bible and one's
church. Demons earnestly desire that the living share the demons'
misery in Hell, and divination is one way of bringing about this foul
end.

A person accepting this model of divination would avoid all
practices of divination beyond prayer to God and perhaps bibliomancy,
the random selection of a verse from the Bible. The idea that angels
might manipulate Tarot cards is, of course, damnable heresy.

An equally anti-divinatory theory is the purely skeptical.
Discorporate spirits are a traditional fantasy, and assuming their
existence is nothing more than self-delusion.

There is a more moderate skeptical view, known to many students of
Western Magick, which is really a form of the
Unconscious Mind theory. Spiritual
beings are viewed as a metaphor for processes of the unconscious
mind, which to some extent mimic the structure of the conscious mind
and can be seen as "splinter intelligences". Spirits do exist in a
sense, but they are strictly personal and even (after a fashion)
mundane, being merely another class of psychological phenomenon. They
cooperate in divination either because the conscious mind can compel
them to do so, or because they understand that their own interests
coincide with the overall interests of the psyche. That is, they are
either controllable or benign.

A more occult form of the spirit theory holds that spirits are
real entities of the spiritual world, but either benign or
controllable in temperament, as above. They may influence the oracle
either through control of the magician's hands, or through magical
powers of some sort.

Most occult systems would hold that a single god (albeit with many
names and forms) rules all divination, while each individual form of
divination (Tarot, geomancy, I Ching, etc.) has its own ruling spirit
or a class of related spirits, who are invoked or evoked for each
divination. Thoth is a good choice for an overall spiritual patron of
all forms of divination, while the spirits specific to each kind of
divination usually go without individual names beyond "spirits of
geomancy", etc., and the names of the particular signs of the oracle.
Sometimes the classes of spirits are given names or attributes beyond
the names and attributes of the system of divination; gnomes are said
to rule geomancy, while Mercurial spirits are said to rule the Tarot.

In an alternate occult formula, a specific spirit may be invoked
or evoked for a particular act of divination, its identity being
harmonious with the nature of the question or problem. A Martial
spirit might be evoked to answer a question pertaining to conflict.
However, the nature of the spirit must be suited not only to the
question but to the oracle. It would do little good to evoke a
Mercurial spirit to answer with geomancy, an essentially earthy
oracle; nor to evoke an elemental to answer a question through the
lofty and abstract I Ching.

Whatever the form of the spirit theory, one should note that it is
not without danger. In fact, divination itself is somewhat dangerous,
regardless of the theory. For this reason, it is probably wise to
perform some simple protective spell (such as the
Pentagram Ritual) before any act
of divination, to keep out malign spirits and influences and
encourage benign ones; or even just to give a feeling of greater
security. This is also a useful technique in combination with the
theory of the unconscious mind, so as
to banish self-destructive influences.

A short prayer to the god of divination (e.g., Tahuti) would be
effective, or a casting of the wards as in traditional occult
practice. One need not be unskeptical to recognize the psychological
benefits of working in a symbolically cleansed environment.

Here is an adaptation of a traditional Golden Dawn preparatory
prayer or spell, suited to the use of the electronic diviner. Touch
the side of the computer with the left hand, and hold the wand
upright in the right, or hold the right hand in the classic gesture
of consecration (first and second fingers upright, ring finger and
pinky curled lightly toward the palm), and say:

I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt send Heru, the great Angel
that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his
hand invisibly upon these crystal and copper thought-forms of art,
that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the
glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen.

Magical Alphabet

Divination delivers information from some source to the conscious
mind. To accomplish this, any oracle must communicate in some more or
less intelligible language.

Looked at another way, any systematic oracle is a language in
itself. By various combinations of the symbols of this language, all
manner of things may be communicated.

This sort of language, such as the language of the Tarot or the
Kabala, is sometimes referred to as a magical alphabet.

That a magical alphabet is invariably vague is its chief objection
among skeptics. The argument is that since the symbols of various
oracles are so diffuse, there is no real evidence that they
communicate anything -- all the meaning is built up in the mind from
the random outcome of the oracle, and various tactics of "cold
reading" are used to add a layer of apparent meaning. This theory is
addressed under Order from Chaos.

The symbols of a magical alphabet are worthy subjects for
meditation. Aleister Crowley held that reading Tarot cards in oracles
is a lower method than simple meditation on their meaning. R. G. H.
Siu said the same of the I Ching, even declining to give the
instructions for divination, which had to be added in a publisher's
preface. However, divination may, as Crowley also suggested, be the
best way to learn the alphabet.

Reader & Querent

In traditional Tarot divination, there is a reader and a querent.
The reader acts as a consultant on the Tarot, using it to illuminate
an issue for the querent. The reader typically charges a small fee
for this service. Some sources insist that a reader is necessary;
otherwise, the prejudices of the querent will dominate the reading.
Cynics might point out that this insistence is of financial value to
people who derive income from reading Tarot cards.

The way to structure a two-person reading depends on the theory.
In all cases, the querent asks the question and the reader interprets
the fall of the cards. The fall of the cards is determined by
shuffling, which may be a joint process, or it may be done entirely
by the reader or by the querent.

If the theory of unconscious
determination is used, then the reader should shuffle the cards,
though the querent may cut them to feel more involved with the
process. The reader should watch the cut carefully so the necessary
information may be transmitted to the unconscious mind. The reader is
skilled in determining the fall of the cards; the querent is not.

If the synchronicity theory is used,
then the querent or the reader may shuffle the cards. It makes no
difference, since the synchronistic meaning comes through purely
random factors.

If the theory of spirits is used,
then again the reader should shuffle, since ordinary people do not
particularly want to channel spirits to get a Tarot reading. If they
wanted to get their hands that wet, they would probably do the
divination themselves. Again, having the querent cut the deck is a
meaningless symbol of involvement, but the spirits arrange the deck
after the querent cuts it.

If the theory of order from chaos is
used, it makes no difference who or what shuffles, just as with
synchronicity.

Telling the Future

The popular view of Tarot cards is that they "tell the future".
That is the meaning of the popular synonym for divination,
"fortune-telling". Any sort of question may be asked of the Tarot
cards, which does not exclude telling the future. But that is not the
only end to which the cards may be put.

When telling the future, the questions of predestination and
psychic powers inevitably arise. If we can accurately read the
future, then the future must already exist in some sense, and we must
have some way of viewing it.

On the question of predestination, science and philosophy are
inconclusive. Modern physics is clear that the world is not
deterministic; there are many experiments with physics on a small
scale that show nature to be probabilistic. Many things happen on the
sub-atomic scale without any real reason, simply because it was more
or less likely that they would happen and they wound up happening or
not. This would seem to fly in the face of predestination; the future
state of the universe depends on truly random and unpredictable
events.

But these events may be truly random yet, in a sense, already have
happened. Time may be viewed as a fourth dimension like our usual
three spatial dimensions. If so, then one may take a static view of
the universe's history, in which the whole of time is a static
construct when viewed from without, that is, from a five-dimensional
perspective. The exact nature of the "arrow of time" has yet to be
clearly determined, and it is impossible to say now whether a
higher-dimensional traveller would see the past as still with us and
the future as already laid out.

The question of psychic powers is even more difficult. No such
powers have ever been shown to exist in any replicable experiment; at
best, such experiments barely squeak in under the margin of
significance, and then only after averaging thousands of trials which
are not individually significant.

Yet many people believe in them regardless, and these people erect
theories to explain them. One of the more popular theoretical ideas
of psychic powers is that the psyche somehow exists in a higher
dimension. From a higher-dimensional viewpoint it might be possible
to look out over the four-dimensional history of the world and see
what is to come.

This is written in 1990 in San Francisco, and it seems rather
telling to this writer that of the great events which have taken
place recently -- the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the
independence of Eastern Europe, the San Francisco earthquake -- none
were foretold by psychics. One would think such momentous happenings
would fairly blaze forth before a psychic eye, yet they didn't.

It is probably best to use a weaker form of the precognition idea,
which does not involve a predestined future or psychic powers.
Instead, the unconscious mind is
viewed as having the power to perceive more or less where some events
are heading, and to present its views on the subject -- which may be
right or wrong -- through a Tarot reading. Of course, the conscious
mind can also make some predictions based on its knowledge. The idea
is that the unconscious mind is attentive to different factors and
will make predictions the conscious mind could not.

Another "weak" form of precognition involves
synchronicity. Events and Tarot readings
are "riding the same waves", so one can cast light on the other.

Finally, it is best to take all answers about the future with a
grain of salt. It is also wise to phrase questions in such a way that
they ask for perspectives on what is happening and what has happened,
and for guidance, rather than for outright predictions of the future.